Fable: The Statue
by Wes Green
Summary: Another short story to keep you guessing about fable characters in Albion.


It was a sunny day in the Gardens. The warm rays of light dispersed among the flowers and bushes gave the gardens a picturesque image. The party inside had been going for an hour and it seemed to be getting lively. Many important people were in attendance to enjoy the afternoon's entertainments and discuss the latest pressing issues. Every now and again a roar of laughter would erupt from inside the hall next to the garden. It came in bursts like waves crashing against the rocks in Bloodstone. Groups of people tended to laugh hysterically when the owner of the house made a joke.

The children of the invited guests all seemed to congregate in the garden. This was mostly out of choice to get out of the adults way and let them go about their business. However, some children like the boys were forced to "Mix" with the other children.

The Boys stood at the end of the garden near the fountain. The sound of the water splashing in the pool was enough to make anyone need the loo.

"I need a pee" the young boy said to the older boy.

"Really, your 8 years old not 8 months" said the older boy playfully.

"Come on daft arse go round the back of this bush, it saves you having to go back in the Hall and father giving you the stare of disapproval". The older boy ushered the younger boy around the bush.

The younger boy had a pee.

"Have you finished?" asked the older boy.

"Yeah", the young lad made his way out of the bushes brushing him self off.

"Right we need to just stay in the garden for a few hours and then we get back to our game" said the older boy with determination.

The boy's had been playing a board game for the last few days in which they had to using their armies attack one another for the kingdom of Albion. The older of the two boys of course been older and a bit wiser was winning so far.

"I'm getting stuffed at the game though" said the young boy with a hint of disappointment.

"Yes you are little one. Because what you will find is that not only am I better looking and more intelligent but I am in fact miles cleverer then you." He said it with a joking smile on his face.

The little boy laughed "yeah but you stink more don't you?"

The older boy joined in his laughter "Takes years to develop this odour kid, something you could only dream of…"

Then the boys were approached by group of other children. There were four in total. Two of them seemed to be brother and sister roughly about the same age as the older boy and both pretty pig faced. One was a taller boy that seemed to have a nervous twitch and the some "Bum fluff" which was the start of a moustache. The fourth was a girl she may have been slightly younger than the older boy. She had red hair that seemed to light up bright in the sunshine. She wore a light pink dress clearly a noble with pale white skin and piercing blue eyes the colour of Bower Lake. The older boy was immediately smitten with her beauty.

"Do you want play Tag?" she said to the older boy.

Without hesitation the older boy responded.

"Absolutely, I love to play….."

"You hate tag" the younger boy interrupted.

"No I don't I just haven't had the chance to play it in a large group as such as this one that's all" he nudged the young boy with his elbow. The young boy seemed to get the hint.

"Well that's grand, I love tag. I love to have all the boys chase me and I LOVE to win" she touched the older boy's medium length black hair.

The older boy felt like he was going to melt. When she touched him he could feel his face getting warmer and imagined the colour to be the same as her flame red hair.

"OK. You can be on first and we all have to hide. You count to 10 and then come and find us." She smiled and the older boy. "OK?"

The older boy hardly heard the instruction as he was staring into her Ice blue eyes.

"Er….yeah….That's….fine."

He turned to face the fountain and started to count out loud slowly

"1…..2…..."

The younger boy immediately panicked as he had no clue where was a good hiding place. He saw the others kids run off in all different directions.

"3…4….."

He thought it would be a good tactic to follow one of them. He followed the girl in the pink dress.

"5….6…."

As he ran after her he she turned around and said "Don't follow me you'll get us both caught. Bugger off"

"7….8….."

The boy ignored her and continued towards the statue following her. He got to the statue area and hid behind a bench close by. The girl whispered loudly "He will be able to see you there! And from there he'll see me!"

The young boy whispered back "I'm sorry I'm not great at games I don't know what I'm doing"

"9….10….. Ready or not here I come!"

The older boy immediately turned around and headed towards the statue area.

"See….he's going to see us. It's all your fault" the young girls pale skin had turned as pink as her dress with anger.

"I hate losing, we better not be seen or else" she continued crouching behind the statue.

The boy started to get scared of the girl rants, after all she was bigger than him and seemingly very aggressive. He thought to himself I will hind behind the statue with her as its better then my bench. The boy ran to where the girl was.

"NO!" she screamed at him. She pushed him on the ground. The boy hit the ground with a thud on his backside.

"I found you!" the older boy said to the girl in a playful tone.

The older boy looked at the younger boy on the floor. "Why are you on the floor daft arse?"

The young boy said "She pushed me on the floor because she didn't want to share her hiding place" the young boy started to cry.

The older boy said looking at the girl "Why did you push him?"

The girl with a little smile said "It…it was self defence. He hit me first…"

She looked at the young boy crying.

"Who are you going to believe? A little kid or me? Why would I lie?"

The young boy got angry " She's a liar I would never hit anyone for no good reason."

The girl touched the older boy's hair again "He needs to be taught a lesson."

"A lesson?...What sort of lesson?" the older boy said slightly confused.

"Well he hit me so you need to hit him back an eye for an eye." She said while she gently rubbed his face.

"You want me to hit him?" the older boy was torn between the young boy's story and the beautiful girls.

"Are you serious? I wouldn't hit her you know I wouldn't!" The young boy started to cry harder.

"This is not fair, I wouldn't hit her, and she pushed me because she didn't want to lose! Make the right choice"

The older boy looked at the girl who was staring at him straight in the eye looking into his soul and infecting him. She was beautiful and a slight breeze was making her red hair dance in the wind. It was enchanting. She held his hand tight and simply nodded.

The older boy turned around and quickly and brutally slapped the eight year old boy across the face. The young boy fell to the floor and landed in some mud. Shocked he started to weep harder holding his face.

The girl delighted by the older boy's actions said

"Come on. Leave him no one wants to play with him anyway." She led the older boy away. As the older boy walked off hand in hand with the girl he looked over his shoulder briefly at the boy on the floor and then let himself be led away.

The younger boy lay on the floor a while by the statue in a flood of tears. Another wave of laughter could be heard coming from the hall. His face stung with the salt and he was covered in dirt.

He stood up brushed himself off and headed towards the laughter.


End file.
